Enrico Campitelli Jr., a 1999 Malvern Prep graduate, had posted news of McNabb's comments late on the night of Jan. 8 on his blog, named after the uppermost reaches of old Veterans Stadium (think beer-soaked, expletive-filled ambiance).

Campitelli's posting on the story came complete with his take (he agreed with McNabb), and a forum for anyone to add their reaction.

Those tuning in to WIP-AM (610) sports radio on the night of Jan. 9 heard host Glen Macnow leading a discussion about McNabb; Macnow first read the controversial comments on "The 700 Level."

"He writes it with a sense of humor, and he covers the gamut of things. He finds interesting stories early," said Macnow, a former Inquirer sportswriter.

In the four years since the Havertown native launched "The 700 Level," Campitelli has earned praise from professionals in both journalism and the blogosphere, while drawing pointed criticism from one member of the local media.

"I was always a techie-geek kind of person," said the 27-year-old as he sat in a South Philadelphia coffeehouse earlier this month, his laptop perched in front of him. A 2003 Boston College graduate, Campitelli was working in the area as an information technology consultant (a job he hated) when he started "The 700 Level" as a hobby in early 2004.

He has since quit IT, and is pursuing his MBA at George Washington University's business school in the nation's capital.

"I write exactly what I think - the uncut, unedited, fan point of view," said Campitelli. A shade under 6 feet, with short, dark hair, the writer behind perhaps the best Philadelphia sports blog looks young. When asked about his background in writing, he laughed, mentioning a creative writing class in college.

"I'm not the best writer by any means. I have no formal training, but I can put a sentence together," he said.

Starting from scratch, and by way mainly of word of mouth, "The 700 Level" has slowly grown in popularity. In December, the site received about 195,000 page views from about 75,000 unique visitors.

Campitelli brought on a college friend, 28-year-old Matt Pesotski, to help in late 2006. The two split the small ("in the hundreds of dollars," said Campitelli) monthly earnings derived from advertising.

"They notice the little nuances about these teams that you don't get in The Inquirer or Daily News," said A.J. Daulerio, writer and blogger for Philadelphia Magazine, and a columnist for the popular sports blog deadspin.com.

The nuances include pictures of Phillies outfielder Pat Burrell proposing to his fiancee; a YouTube video of Eagles tight end L.J. Smith rapping on a couch (in aviator sunglasses); and a video clip of Eagles linebacker Omar Gaither shooting around at a 76ers practice - all complete with comical headlines. A posting about a Daily News article predicting McNabb's return for next season was headlined: "Forecast for '08: Partly cloudy with a 95% chance of McNabb."

Campitelli was recruited to be a blogger for AOL's "Fanhouse" - the most visited sports blog, with about 20 million page views per month - in September 2006. He still writes for it when he's not posting on "The 700 Level," though he says he earns even less from "Fanhouse" then he does from his blog.

Praise for Campitelli's writing has not been universal, however. Campitelli live-blogged the Eagles' 2006 season opener against the Houston Texans for "Fanhouse," posting his thoughts on the Internet as the game was being played.

The week after the game, Inquirer columnist Frank Fitzpatrick took Campitelli to task in the lead item of a column. "Not sure what Campitelli's credentials are - not that blogging requires anything more than a computer and a pair of pajamas," wrote Fitzpatrick, who criticized Campitelli for being a typical Eagles fan, more or less, in that he ripped McNabb and company for bad plays, and praised them for good ones.

Fitzpatrick added that "like most bloggers, he has an overinflated sense of his own importance."

Macnow, when asked about run-ins that bloggers often have with print-media journalists, said that "just because someone doesn't spend his life in a press box doesn't invalidate his opinion."

"I find the hostility that some print journalists have against bloggers just baffling. I think it's just an outgrowth of anxiety about the industry in general," said Will Bunch, Daily News senior writer and editor of the blog attytood.com. Bunch ranked "The 700 Level" as the No. 2 Philadelphia sports blog in The Great Book of Philadelphia Sports Lists, coauthored by Macnow and fellow WIP host "Big Daddy" Graham.

"I don't want to be the next legendary sports writer; I just want to be the next Sports Guy [Bill Simmons of espn.com, who came to fame as an Internet columnist], or Will Leitch," the editor of deadspin.com, said Campitelli, who says he doesn't worry too much about increasing his ad revenues.

"Sports are supposed to be fun, we do it [blog] to try to have some fun with it," said Campitelli. "At the end of the day, it's just a game that you're supposed to enjoy."

Campitelli Online

Campitelli's work can be seen at the700level.com, or at AOL's "Fanhouse," at sports.aol.com/fanhouse/bloggers/enrico-campitelli-jr/